Duplication
by ShadowPillow
Summary: Sometimes, the easy way out isn't a way out at all.


A/N: Just an idea that came to mind after reading some DP HP fanfics.

I do not own Danny Phantom.

* * *

 **Duplication**

* * *

Danny stared at a reflection of himself, a perfect image with the same stupid grin. _Success_. He had duplicated himself.

He raised his hand. The duplicate did too, mirroring his exact movements.

After realizing what had happened, they both leaned back and laughed.

"You –"

It was eerie how the voices echoed over each other, combining into the perfect unison note.

"Oh, wow –"

Danny stepped back, suddenly uncomfortable. The duplicate did too, and crashed into the table behind him.

A divergence point had been created, and suddenly both Dannys were at ease. They were no longer the same person, one a foot apart. They were no longer trapped in an endless cycle of repitition, each mirroring the other.

Danny smiled at his duplicate, who was staring up at the original in consternation.

"Hey, are you all right?" he asked, extending out a bony hand to his reflection. A very similar hand took it.

"I'm fine," the duplicate said, as if the words were automatic. They paused.

Danny suddenly remembered his original reasons for wanting to create a duplicate. The vast opportunities it would bring. To be able to fight ghosts, do homework, and relax, all at the same time...

He found himself quite excited. Any lingering doubts were dismissed.

"Sam and Tuck and I were planning on meeting up at the Nasty Burger," he said, knowing the duplicate would already know all this. "So if you could do the schoolwork while I go there, that would be great?"

So eager was he at the prospect, that he didn't wait for a reply (for what was the point of conversing with himself, after all?) and simply flew off, intangible, through his bedroom wall.

His friends were waiting, and for once, he wouldn't have to worry about homework. It was an opportunity far too rare and far too valuable to pass up.

And Sam and Tucker were indeed glad to see him. They expressed their feelings of amazement at his newest feat (although Sam's lips had been puckered into a small frown of disapproval; he wasn't quite sure why). He was content.

Until he flew back home.

He entered through the front door; there was nothing to hide about in the case of an excursion with Sam and Tucker. His mother was pleasantly surprised to see him, smiling fondly.

"Were you out? I had thought you were still upstairs, but I guess you were just too eager to see your friends to stay in bed!" She laughed, a nice, soft velvety sound, and Danny cracked a smile. "Did you finish all your homework?"

He thought of his duplicate, and estimated that the time he had been gone should have been enough to finish everything.

"Yup," he said confidently. Maddie Fenton looked fiercy proud of him.

"That's my boy!" she said. "Now, food should be done in about an hour. I'll call you down when it's ready, alright?"

"Alright," he echoed, suddenly feeling much less cheery. Food. He wondered if it would be glowing green, or if it would move. He found himself glad for Tucker's coaxing at the Nasty Burger to take a rather large portion for himself. At least he would have an excuse.

He trudged upstairs to his room, and entered. He startled at the sight of a scrawny-looking boy sitting at his desk, surfing the internet on his computer.

 _What?_

"Hey –" he said, before abruptly recognizing the boy as himself, a duplicate. From the realization came a strange feeling of disconnection from the world, as if he weren't quite real and it was this boy who had taken over his life and claimed it as his own, for the way he sat so naturally in this room. He just seemed to _fit_ with the random clusters of paper, the spaceships hanging from the coeling, the taped slapshod posters on the wall.

Danny had never felt so out of place in his own home.

"Hey yourself," the duplicate responded with a cheeky smile, no deceptions necessary amongst those who are the same person.

 _Is that really me?_ he thought dizzily.

Then the moment ended. The world made sense again. He set himself on the edge of the bed.

"How'd the homework go?" Danny asked brightly.

"Oh, I didn't do it," the duplicate said, eyes still on the computer screen, a small smile on his lips as if he had just read something funny.

Danny felt his heart sink. He remembered what he had told his mother, with such confidence.

"None of it?" he asked weakly.

The other boy suddenly looked panicked, as if he felt the same weight and pressure to do well, and had realized he had just messed it up.

"Well, I –" he stuttered, "I thought that, because, you just left so suddenly and we never really agreed –"

"But you were the one who was supposed to do it!" Danny cried out, aghast.

"We're the same person!" protested the other Danny, looking irritated. "Why should I do the work while you get to hang out with Sam and Tucker?"

Danny had no answer. It was an uncomfortable feeling.

"But, I'm the original," he said finally, his voice lackluster, devoid of real conviction. It was a bad excuse, and they both knew it.

They were the same person, after all.

"Look," he said tiredly, "can we just..."

He'd have to do his homework himself later. Another sleepless night, and that was if a ghost didn't attack. Lancer was going to be angry.

"Join together?" the duplicate supplied.

"Yeah," he said unenthusiastically. "That."

They stared at each other awkwardly for a moment.

"So how do we –"

They had spoken together at the same time again, an eerie unison voice. An expression of irritation appeared on both of their faces.

They tried to imagine how Plasmius had put together his duplicates after he was done with them. Hadn't they just sort of just melded all together?

"Ghost form?" both Dannys suggested, then shrugged simutaneously.

They lifted a hand into the air, called out, "Going ghost!" and a bright flash of white light lit the room. Suddenly, the knowledge became instinctive. He stretched out a hand, and _reabsorbed_ the duplicate. He watched himself become an indistinct blob, and felt the merging of body mass.

Memories of a day lazily spent on the computer filled his mind, the slight twinge of guilt of the duplicate at not doing the homework, and the irritation that he had been so carelessly ordered to.

Danny shivered. It was weird, having two sets of memories about the same events. He resolved to not think about it, and if he ever tried duplication, that he would be much more considerate of his own feelings.

As for now, he had his homework to finish.

Hopefully Mom wouldn't be _too_ mad that he had lied to her, however indirectly.


End file.
